• Columnists

Donna Fisher, author, "Professional Networking for Dummies"

COLUMN = NETWORKING

Donna Fisher is an entrepreneur at heart. She loves creating and growing fun and profitable businesses. For 20 years, she has had her own business as a speaker/trainer for corporate meetings, conferences and conventions. She earned her Certified Speaking Professional designation CSP in 1998 and has continued to present programs on “People, Power and Possibilities.”

Along with her speaking business, she is the co-owner and President of HiHat, Inc., a manufacturing and retail business for drums and percussion instruments. http://www.percussiononline.com

In 2009, the Percussion Center was ranked as one of the “Top 50 Fastest Growing Woman-Owned Businesses in Houston” based on a growth of 156% from 2002 to 2009 and 20.8% from 2007 to 2008. This led to the creation of her training program, “Drumming Up Business.”

In 2004, she rediscovered her creative side and her love of crocheting while visiting her Mother in North Carolina. The creative juices led to the development of three products, the camishawl, the Sharap and Chakra Shawls. Her product line is Soft & Luxurious custom designed and hand created wearable textiles. http://www.softandluxurious.com

Her five books, “Power Networking,” “People Power,” “Power NetWeaving,” “Switched-On Networking,” and “Professional Networking for Dummies” have been translated into four languages, recommended by Time magazine, and used as reference books in corporations and universities.

Donna’s mission is to be a catalyst for people to communicate and relate with respect and dignity and connect with people to make a difference. She helps people get set up to use Send Out Cards to stay connected with clients, prospects, family and friends.

For more information, visit www.donnafisher.com.

I’ve come to confirm that one’s title, even that of president, says little about how well one’s life has been led. No matter how much you’ve done, or how successful you’ve been, there’s always more to do, to learn, and to achieve.”

– Barack Obama

Your own words are the bricks and mortar
of the dreams you want to realize.
 The words you choose and their use establish the life you experience.”

– Sonia Croquette

There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.”

– JFK

The dove descending breaks the air / With flame of inkandescent terror.”

– T.S. Eliott

If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is compromise.”

– Robert Fritz

Change is a math formula. Change happens when the cost of the status quo is greater than the risk of change.”

– Alan Webber, author, "Rules of Thumb"

If you wish success in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius.”

– Joseph Addison

Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, ‘What’s in it for me?’”

– Brian Tracy

As each woman realizes her power, she transforms the world.”

– Patrice Wynne, WomanSpirit Sourcebook

The good ideas are all hammered out in agony by individuals, not spewed out by groups.”

– Charles Brower, Advertising Hall of Fame

Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, ‘Make Me Feel Important.’ Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.”

– Mary Kay Ash

Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.”

– E.B. White

Of course there is no formula for success except perhaps an unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings.”

– Arthur Rubinstein

A man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out.”

– Chinese Proverb

There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.”

– Christopher Morley

But all the while I was alone, the past was close behind, I seen a lot of women, but she never escaped my mind, and I just grew, tangled up in blue.”

– Bob Dylan

He who knows he has enough is rich.”

– Tao Te Ching

I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other ability under the sun.”

– John D. Rockefeller

The biggest flaw in our existing theory of capitalism lies in its misrepresentation of human nature.”

– Muhammad Yunus

Whatever you do may seem insignificant, but it is most important that you do it.”

– Gandi

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”

– Carl Rogers

Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A whole, clear, glorious life lies before you. Achieve! Achieve!”

– Andrew Carnegie

4oz tequila + 1oz TripleSec + 2oz lime juice + 1oz simple syrup (sugar=water), 1 cup crushed ice. Shake + dance around the kitchen.

– Avenida Margarita

The best reason to start an organization is to create a product or service to make the world a better place.”

– Guy Kawasaki

Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

– Christopher Robin to Pooh

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which obstacles vanish.”

– John Quincy Adams

You must have chaos within you, to create a dancing star.”

– Frederic Nietzsche

My job is my hobby. I come to work to play.”

– Uli Becker, president, Reebok International

The best hobbies are the ones that take us furthest from our primary occupation.”

– Dr. Evelyn Vogel, Dexter

If you think you are too small to make a difference, try going to sleep with a mosquito in your room.”

– A wisdomism

Women once had the goal of being Superwoman; I think most of us now simply strive to have a super day.”

– Author, Activist Lee Woodruff

Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow know what you truly want to become.”

– Steve Jobs

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

– William Butler Yeats

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”

– Carl Rogers

How do you stay resilient? It’s about momentum. Like riding a bicycle. If you stop you fall over. So I keep pedaling.”

– Diane Lane

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.”

– Robert Louis Stevenson

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

– Thomas Edison

Spend the afternoon. You can’t take it with you.”

– Annie Dillard

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

– John Quincy Adams

To find what you seek in the road of life, leave no stone unturned.”

– Edward Bulwer Lytton

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

– T.S. Eliot

Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”

– Eckhart Tolle

The music is all around us. All you have to do is listen.”

– August Rush

When I was younger I thought success was being a star, driving nice cars, having groupies. But today I think the most important thing is to live your life with integrity.

– Ellen DeGeneres

Everyone is a mirror image of yourself—your own thinking coming back at you.”

– Byron Katie

There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be…”

– John Lennon

Challenge is a dragon with a gift in its mouth. Tame the dragon and the gift is yours.”

– Noela Evans

A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.”

– Bob Dylan

Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.”

– Thomas Carlyle

Do not be afraid of mistakes, providing you do not make the same one twice.”

– Eleanor Roosevelt